Reincarnation

“OUR WONDERFUL EVOLUTIONARY TOOL”

“We have existed in the past, we exist now, and we will exist in the future. The soul that has a body in this world will find another body after death. Those who know this are not deceived by the threat of death.” ~ Krishna, Spiritual Teacher, Paraphrased from “The Bhagavad Gita“

It’s a concept that is not widely accepted in western society. Although most world religions teach some form of reincarnation, and it is accepted as truth by many around the world, including many tribal societies, only 20-30% of the western culture has any kind of belief. One must ask why it is not more widely accepted in western society. Do we just not think about it? Does it seem too far-fetched? Is it ignorance? Or are we taught otherwise? It is probably a combination of a few of these.

Anyone familiar with Christian, Jewish or Islamic teachings knows that the topic of reincarnation is not an idea that is accepted. Modern Christianity, at least in my personal experience, does not even touch it. Those that teach the material from their sacred texts (The Bible, The Quran) will claim that God only gives us one lifetime to ‘get it right’ and that we are being judged on our actions and thoughts, only to be allowed into heaven if we live our lives according to the rules. But is this the way it was always taught? You will find that this is not true. In fact, early Gnostic teachers believed that they had lived previously and would live again. Some early church fathers like Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Saint Jerome and many others accepted the concept of reincarnation.

“Jesus Christ did not seek to leave behind any written teaching. In the centuries that followed the predominantly baby soul society imposed a structure, rites, and rituals that Christ himself did not create. The principle of recurrence (reincarnation), for example, was an integral part of Christianity until the leaders decided it made them more powerful to change the doctrine to threaten miscreant followers with hell and damnation in the hereafter. But the Bible and Book of Common Prayer retain the references to eternal life.” ~ Michael, A Non-Physical Integrated Entity Channeled and Documented in the Book “The Michael Handbook“

It wasn’t until AD 325 when references to reincarnation were removed from the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, and again in AD 533 when the concept was actually declared a heresy by the church and that reincarnation was not going to be allowed in the Christian doctrine. Even the Jewish Bible taught reincarnation up to the 17th Century. You may find references in the modern day version of the Bible, but they are subject to interpretation. You have to ask the question as to why the concept of reincarnation was simply not going to be accepted as part of Christian teaching. Was the power of the church weakened by allowing us to believe that we had eternity to seek our ‘salvation’? Did the concept contradict the teachings of Jesus and other spiritual masters? Or did Jesus actually teach reincarnation? Why do most religions teach some form of reincarnation but not traditional Western religions? If you are one that has been influenced by western spiritual thinking, then you should be asking some of these questions.

“Pleasures in life are like a flowing river. You float away on them and are carried from lifetime to lifetime. They pursue you like hunter pursues his prey. The cycle of birth, death, and rebirth goes on and on. It is a long journey for those who do not know the dharma.” ~ Buddha, Spiritual Teacher, Paraphrased from “The Dhammapada“

Eastern philosophy and religion gives us a different viewpoint. Buddhism and Hinduism probably come closest to the reincarnation teachings presented here, although they present their own dogmas just like Christianity and Judaism. The Bhagavad Gita, the Hindu sacred text, presents many references to reincarnation. The central idea is that souls continue to incarnate into physical bodies until they reach perfection through their karmic actions until they become one with the divine. It’s a process of evolution throughout many lifetimes and the concept of karma is what the ultimate ‘judgment’ factor is, not an angry or jealous God. Since we are responsible for the thoughts we have and actions we take, we will keep coming back into physical form until we ‘get it right’.

So what you have to ask yourself is which of these ideas makes the most sense. Do you accept that one lifetime is all that you have, that you have one shot make the best of it and hope you don’t really screw it up? Or that you have had and will have as many opportunities that you need to become who you really want to be. With the first concept, you are at the mercy of an ultimate judge, with a need to follow certain conditions in order to be ‘saved’. With the second, you are your own judge, allowing yourself to reach ‘salvation’ regardless of how long it takes. Which scenario sounds better to you? Which one presents a more compassionate, patient and loving concept of God?

Regardless of where you stand on reincarnation, there are many accounts of people having knowledge and memories of being in a previous physical body as well as a massive body of consistentresearch through hypnotic regression, channeling, NDEs, and mystics. Most of us do not remember our past lives, as we come to the physical plane with amnesia of our previous experiences in the physical and spiritual realms. The reason is to start each life fresh so that we can use the knowledge in our subconscious mind and apply it to our present evolutionary self. There would be entirely too much information to process and it would take away from the focus on our current goals this time around. Imagine if we were able to remember our past lives and all those who hurt us or loved us. It would be quite a different experience. And if we were to remember what it feels like to be on the spiritual planes then we would probably not choose to stay in a physical body for very long.

Reincarnation provides the full range of experiences that being in a physical body has to offer. We have the opportunity to live on both sides of the karmic coin. If we are male in one lifetime, then we can be female in another. We can be rich in one and poor in another. Maybe we exit our physical body early or live to be an advanced age. You can see how many different life circumstances can be created in order to give our souls the broadest experience of being on a plane of relativity. If you can really understand karma, then the entire process of coming back into physical form over and over makes perfect sense. Once you have seen the larger pattern of experience you cannot go back to seeing the part as the whole. Your soul will continue to grow and evolve until you reach a state of mastery that you have chosen. This is what the universe (God) has laid out for us, and through eternal love, we are given the opportunity to create that state of mastery with the wonderful tool of evolution, that of reincarnation.